Last trip down memory lane as the fat lady finally sings

After 22 shows and more than £130,000 raised for charities, Apex Productions’ run finally came to a halt on Sunday night in the Gardyne Theatre.

Compered by Ian Lees, it was a trip down memory lane for any of the audience who were Apex regulars, with songs from the shows performed by 21 Apex alumni.

Some have stayed strictly amateur since the early days, and some have gone on to grace the stages of London’s West End or other heady professional heights. But there were no egos here, simply a gettogether of old friends eager to celebrate Apex’s unique contribution to musical theatre.

Producer and founder Paul Smith deserves heaps of praise for his ability to sniff out a rare gem of a show and cast them with the cream of local talent. Rent, Little Me and Aida – no, not the Verdi version – were typical examples of Paul’s persistence for innovation.

The singing from start to finish was excellent. However, I thought some of the songs, no matter how well they were performed, didn’t really work out of context. The medley from Songs From A New World was typical of this and the show took a wee dip here. Marjory Watson pulled things back to top standard with the last of the four songs, Christmas Lullaby.

I had the privilege of appearing in the first Apex production, Jesus Christ Superstar, in 1994 and Paul Lyall got things off to the best of starts with Heaven On Their Mind, rolling back the years to his performance as Judas. From then on it was a conveyor belt of brilliant show-stoppers.

For me, Lynn MacFarlane’s moving My Child Will Forgive Me battles it out with Kim Shepherd’s Somebody To Love and any of the four songs from Avenue Q, Apex’s last and probably most memorable show.

The fat lady has sung, proving all good things do come to an end.